a reply to:
Christosterone
I'm probably going to miss a few points but using your OP as a template:
I don't really align myself with any political party, I find the Pirate Party most agreeable due to their thoughts on technology and information, but
there's still parts of their platform I disagree with such as direct democracy.
I'm 32 years old which makes me just old enough for every election I've been eligible to participate in to involve electing a do nothing Congress or 2
out of the 5 worst presidents in American history.
I'm more or less a perpetual student having been in college for the past 11 years (1 more to go...), though that's allowed me to gain ample degrees
and a lot of knowledge on my field. Having that type of educational opportunity is rather rare and I'm very aware of how lucky I am.
I'm a Buddhist and the two biggest principals in my life are eliminating suffering (individually and for society), and the Middle Way which I take to
mean anything in moderation and avoiding extremes. This most often applies to my political views in that I'm a big fan of compromise as it's a great
tool to balance out ones own opinions. This even applies to religion itself, look at what parts you believe to be true and don't blindly adhere to
dogma.
While I do listen to others positions on issues (a necessity for compromise), I have no interest in hearing their logic in why they think the way they
do regardless of if they agree with me or not. I think that people should come up with their own solutions and thought process to an issue, rather
than being told what to think and why to think that way. It goes to the point that I'm actually disappointed with myself for not thinking up a better
solution on my own if my opinion and reasoning is what's echoed by the talking heads.
On abortion I'm pro choice, but I don't think it's a particularly reasonable position to argue. On this subject people tend to be so set in their
opinion that any dialogue is impossible. I think it's much more effective to discuss ways to prevent abortions in the first place whether that's
through more adoptions, a safety net to care for children so they aren't seen by their parents as ruining their lives, or more birth control to
prevent conceptions.
Constitutionally I don't believe any rights are absolute (again, see the avoidance of extremes). Additionally, I think that in hindsight the
Anti-Federalists were proven correct and that by enumerating specific rights to the people through amendments we have created a belief that we only
possess the rights listed. This has created a culture and a government where we don't have a right to privacy, a right to health care, or a right to
travel. On the other hand unlike the Anti-Federalists I don't oppose a larger stronger government, I have no fear of big government. What I do fear
is ineffective government, regardless of the governments scope when it is run like a train wreck and we elect people who run on a platform of making
it even more of a disaster I have a problem. Government exists to defend us and improve our quality of life, and I support it being whatever size is
necessary to optimize that without going too far as we are currently doing on the security side of things.
I'm not a supporter of capitalism, it has some great ideas such as individual benefit but when labor pools of differing economic zones are forced to
compete against each other the system doesn't work. We need a new economic system that can combine the individual benefit of capitalism, the
production benefits of a planned economy, the quality of life benefits of socialism, and the ability to be regional rather than global.
Like I mentioned earlier, I don't support direct democracy either, I think a Republic is the best system for governing. It has the benefits of a
democratic process while eliminating the downfall that society can't be properly educated on every issue before voting. In particular I find a
certain elegance in the design of the system in the US with three branches that can keep each other in check in addition to the voters.
I think that taxes are currently too low, even if we were to freeze spending at it's current rate taxes would need to go up by approximately 50% in
order to eliminate the deficit and create a plan that could eliminate the debt in ~20 years. Leading the way on this I pay extra into the system
every tax day beyond what I owe, though I'm aware it's rather pointless when I'm probably the only person in the entire country that does so.
I believe in equal treatment and have no problem with gays, they're people just like everyone else. The same is true of blacks, whites, middle
easterners, Christians, Muslims, Jews, and any other group.
Keeping with what I like about the Pirate Party, far too much information is kept from the public by corporations and government. Transparency is an
absolute defense against lies and corruption because it makes each person/group accountable for their words and actions. Just like our checks and
balances in our government create a system where each branch oversees the others rather than trusting them, openness of information allows the people
to observe those in power rather than trust or distrust them. Though there is certain information that should remain hidden, for a time (for example
the JFK files or maybe 9/11, and current military actions).
And to sum this up, I'm against the 40 hour work week. In decades past before productivity is what it is now working 40 hours made sense. Before
1948 the work week was 44 hours and in 1900 it was 50 hours. It only makes sense to me that as we become more productive there is less work that
needs to be done. Rather than have a bunch of people working and a bunch of people not working and dependent, lets just reduce the work week so that
everyone is contributing. This is the biggest success of Obamacare in my opinion in that it's pushing more people to 29 hour weeks, for the rest of
it's flaws this fact is going to be the defining part of the legislation in the future although the transition certainly hasn't been painless for a
myriad of reasons.
edit on 27-10-2015 by Aazadan because: (no reason given)